the life of the Friedrich family

In high school, I was good friends with a couple of guys who called me Cherry Baby. I always thought it was fun, reminiscent of course of the Neil Diamond song. These guys were uber talented – they could write and perform music like nobody’s business. They probably still can and do – honestly, I rarely see them anymore. It makes me sad to think about, but I guess life takes us in different directions.

Anyway, when we found out we were having a girl, we already had her name picked out. Of course, Cerise is the French word for cherry, and that’s in honor of my maiden name. Now, I cannot help but think of my high school nickname when I think of our little girl. Some portion of the Neil Diamond tune is almost always running through my head.

We had a great sonogram appointment today. Our little girl weighs 1 lb 12 oz and is still measuring a little big for her age, which I take as a great sign. Her heart is “perfect” according to the perinatologist – and he confirmed we are indeed having a girl! (Angela likes to have doubt about the gender of a baby until he/she appears, but I’m confident the doctors have this gender thing right in our case.) 🙂 We are so excited that she got such excellent marks and we are anxious to see our girl again in 4 weeks. We are going to take Kennison and Colton with us – we have no idea what to expect, but think it will be a fun family experience. Thanks for checking in on us – only 13.5 weeks to go!

On Sunday, I went to church to play handbells. When I got home, Kenny had made lunch. We ate the delicious potato skins together (recipe by The Pioneer Woman, though you won’t find the skins recipe on her blog – she saved it for her cookbook) and then I went upstairs to rest. By rest, I mean, dead sleep for 2-3 hours, other than when my coughing was not waking me up. Anyway, my point is, Kenny spent a lot of time with the kids. So last night, after getting in bed, we had the following conversation:

Me: “Are you OK?

Kenny: “Yeah, I’m just tired. The kids were really wearing on me today.”

Me: (Laughing)

Kenny: “I mean, I know, you do it every day…”

It’s nice to know I have the kind of husband that will step in and do anything for me, even if it means spending all day with the little people and letting me sleep. I really appreciate him. I thought it probably also helped him understand why so very little gets done around here during the day. 🙂

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Talking to my parents on the phone:

Colton: “Hi Granddad!”

Granddad: “Hi Colton. How are you?”

Colton: “What doin’?”

Granddad: “I’m watching TV, what are you doing?”

Colton: “Hi Nana!”

Nana: “Hi Colton!”

Colton: “What doin’?”

Nana: “I’m making dinner, what are you doing?”

Colton: “Hi Granddad! What doin’?”

This kid cracks me up. He was also very concerned that because my mom’s picture is displayed on my phone when we are calling their home number that Granddad was not also on the phone. I tried to explain this to him, but he wasn’t getting it. Add more confusion when Kenny calls WHILE we’re on the phone with my parents and Kenny’s picture pops up. Then it’s “Hi Daddy!” even though we haven’t answered daddy’s call.

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Me: “Kennison, what should we do for Auntie Ang for her birthday?”

Kennison: “We should make cupcakes!”

Me: “But Auntie Ang is in Seattle, she won’t be here for her birthday.”

Kennison: “And we can eat the cupcakes!”

Smart.

Later the same day…

Kennison: “Was Kiki, and Ben, and Hunter, and Grandma, and Grandpa, and Nana, and Granddad, and Tipper, and Alfie, and Mikey, and Tori, and Jack, and Charlie here for Coco’s birthday?”

Me: “Yes, they were all here for Colton’s birthday.”

Kennison: “Well I want Auntie Ang to come to my birthday!”

Me: “Well sweetie, Auntie Ang won’t be able to be here for your birthday. She lives in Seattle.”

Kennison: “But she could get an airplane to take her the airport and then she can drive to my house!”

I have just published a password protected post. It talks about pee – specifically, my pee and a test my doctors want me to complete. I don’t care if you want to read it, but I want you to know it might gross you out. (Honestly, the whole thing is gross to me – hence the blog post.) If you are interested, you can read it by using the following password, entered exactly as it appears below:

this could be gross

Don’t say I didn’t warn you! If you’d rather not read it, I understand. You’re not really missing anything. I just had to get my feelings about it off my chest. I will try to post something fun very soon!

While playing around on the internet, I wandered on to our adoption agency’s website. I of course clicked on Vietnam adoption (for those who don’t know, it is our dream to adopt another child from Vietnam in the next 5-10 years) and ended up on their “waiting child” information page. Lo and behold, who did I see pictured there??? Our darling Kennison! A much younger Kennison, but it is certainly her… the picture on the site is from July 2007. I know this because she is wearing a particular dress (I loved that dress!) and in front of the Independence courthouse where we attended the wedding of a teacher friend. Kennison was indeed a waiting child, so it’s the perfect page for her picture. I hope people who are considering the adoption of a special needs child (no matter the country) will see her beautiful face and think harder about their decision, and understand how worth it it can be to take a risk and love a child, even when you don’t have all the answers. Finding Kennison? That was a miracle. I hope other prospective adoptive families will feel that miracle, too.

MonkeyStitch is getting an update! My good friend Erin is a very talented graphic designer, and she has created a new logo for us to use for our business. We absolutely love it and hope you love it too! Check out our site, because we have some giveaways coming up… after all, we have a new baby girl to welcome soon, and that calls for a celebration!

It is a winter wonderland here in Independence, MO. We actually had a white Christmas, and I cannot remember the last time that happened. On top of that, it hasn’t been warm enough to melt any of the snow away – and we just keep getting more! The kids love it, of course – they’d love it even more if I’d let them play in it more often! It has just been so stinkin’ cold!